Whaddaya Mean I’m A Publisher?

The difference between private and public is so easy for us to understand that when we hear “publicity” we already know whether we want it or not.

It’s a simple representation of how we feel — about choosing whether to expose things about ourselves or not.

Our sense of having very consistent feelings doesn’t change as we move from one environment to another, but our choice certainly differs depending on what is involved. We might think of “publicity” as being more or less widespread and somewhat unrestrained. Unless we try to control it, it may seem to be indifferent to who gets the exposure and access.

If we flip it around, however, the question is whether we want other people to ask us about ourselves or ask us to share something that we have.

The “feeling” that lies behind what they ask for can always be seen as having three elements: a level of interest, a privilege of access, and a degree of immediate intention.

That’s where we make a difference in a planned way. The more that we decide to satisfy their concerns by using our content, the more we are adopting a publishing role. In the entirety of our own collection of content, we have the option to aim distribution of the items in many ways. Some of our items have been produced specifically to be published, and others less so. But once we decide how someone else should be able to use any item in our collection, we can carry through as a publisher.

To some extent, everyone publishes their own content — to themselves. This just acknowledges that our own future use of something we saved beforehand will likely involve the same three elements of desire that any other requester has. Seeing things that way, the big question is, did we save things in a way that best serves the chance to publish?